Alerting Services

Alerts are a way of tracking new material that is being published in your field, either in traditionally published formats such as books or journal articles, or from sources using newer publishing methods such as blogs.

Many databases offer alerting services which allows you to keep up to date with new research in a particular field of study by alerting you to new publications. Databases will require you to create a personal account before you can access these services.

Receiving alerts

You can receive alerts via email or via an RSS feed.

Watch this short video to learn how to receive updates via RSS - What is RSS?

To view your RSS feed you will need a feed reader or aggregator. Common (and free) RSS readers include:

Feedly (which has a web interface as well as an app for iOS and Android)

Blogs and social media

Many researchers and research organisations now publish much of their material in alternative forms, including blogs. This is generally more current and can also encourage a conversation about a topic of interest which is then worked into a more traditional form of scholarly publishing.

Key organisations in specific fields worth following are often mentioned in the subject guide for your discipline.

Further Questions?

For further details or advice, please contact your Subject Librarian, or connect to the journal publisher or database of your choice from the Library's web pages and look for details on setting up RSS feeds and alerts.